Hassan looked to have got the better of her Swedish rival, but Bahta bounces back, lengthens her stride and opens up a gap once more, raising her arms as she crosses the line victoriously.

“The victory means so much to me. I feel happy and satisfied. I had complete control of the race”, said Bahta.

The Eritrean refugee had pushed the pace from two laps out and dug deep to hold on for victory in 15min 31.39sec.

Hassan had to be content with silver, finishing 0.40sec, with her Dutch team-mate Susan Kuijken coming through for bronze and Jo Pavey, the 40-year-old 10,000m winner from Great Britain, down in seventh.